Open AccessNovel methodology to image stromal tissue and assess its morphological features with polarized light: towards a tumour microenvironment prognostic signature
Author(s) -
Jared Westreich,
Mohammadali Khorasani,
Blake Jones,
Valentin Demidov,
Sharon NofechMozes,
I. Alex Vitkin
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
biomedical optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.362
H-Index - 86
ISSN - 2156-7085
DOI - 10.1364/boe.10.003963
Subject(s) - stromal cell , stroma , polarizer , tumor microenvironment , pathology , breast cancer , cancer research , medicine , cancer , immunohistochemistry , tumor cells , optics , physics , birefringence
The amount and organization details of peri-tumoural stroma have been linked to patient outcomes in various cancers. In this study, we propose a novel and relatively simple methodology using polarized light microscopy (PLM) to image fibrillar structures within a tumour microenvironment, using only linear crossed polarizers. We demonstrate the technique's ability to image and extract measurement-geometry-independent quantitative morphological metrics related to stromal density and alignment in human invasive breast cancer samples. The findings are promising towards quantitative characterization of peri-tumoural stroma, with potential to develop a PLM signature of tumour microenvironment for providing clinically important information such as breast cancer behaviour or treatment outcome prognosis.